In honor of Jerusalem Day, which will be commemorated this year on Sunday, Jerusalem culture center Beit Avi Chai is releasing an application that will enable one to follow guided walks of Jerusalem, arranged by different subjects. One can choose to follow the pursuit of the fictional Tamar from Someone to Run With through the alleys of Nahalat Shiva, listen to Ehud Banai’s songs in the locations that inspired him, or follow the poems of Yehuda Amichai or the stories of Shai Agnon.
One of the app’s routes was assembled by no other than Jerusalem’s top resident, President Reuven Rivlin. The president is a native Jerusalemite whose family’s history in the area stretch back seven generations, and he selected the locations are near and dear to his heart.
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Somebody following the president’s walking tour will be guided to Gymnasia Rehavia, Mt. Scopus, the Jerusalem International YMCA, the Old City and the Western Wall, the Knesset, the President’s Residence, the Achdut Yisrael synagogue, and finally to Mt. Herzl.
At each of the stops, one will be able to read on the app the reason that Rivlin selected it, alongside a poem that he selected that is connected with the location.
For example, the president thus wrote about Gymnasia Rehavia: “Here I studied (more or less) in the years of my youth; here I played, loved, found new passions, received my education and had new experiences. One of my favorite teachers was the poet Yehuda Amichai, a man of Jerusalem whose beloved poems are with me to this day.”
On the YMCA, Rivlin wrote, “While the old and beloved field is no longer with is, there are experiences that you don’t forget. I grew up on Beitar (Jerusalem Football Club); the stars of my childhood were the players that made me cry more than once, tears of sadness and tears of joy. Over time, I managed to transform from a fan to the club’s chairman, but in my heart, I’ve always been a fan.”
The president wrote about the concluding station, Mt. Herzl, “We—Nehama and I—made our home next to this symbolic mountain, and I have walked its paths more than once. This mountain, its essence, represents the State of Israel in more than one way, from the soldiers’ graves and the names of Holocaust martyrs and victims of terrorism, to the resting place of great leaders of the nation and to the site where the torches are lit on Independence Day.”
